Our new guidance note/protocol for using sound recorders to detect Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers gives practical details for using Song Meter Mini & Micro recorders from Wildlife Acoustics in woodland with suitable habitat & has proved a great success www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...

Farewell to Birdwatching Legend and Sussex naturalist - Lawrence G. Holloway, who has died aged 94. In 1965 he invented and pioneered 'Ornitholidays' the very first birdwatching holidays. Initially to European destinations, eg Mallorca, the holiday idea expanded worldwide & the rest is history.

First LSW visit for 2026 and two birds seen chasing each other. Here’s a (very poor quality) video of a female. The Blean, Kent, 31st January

It's arrived! Pan-species Listing: How to Become a Super-Naturalist published by @pelagicpublishing. My first book. I am so pleased with it. It looks amazing, all those photos of incredible British species really make this a very colourful book and a celebration of how fantastic our wildlife is.

Lesser spot in the Wyre forest weather perfect for these stunning birds also 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿birds started drumming today 😀@lesserspotnet.bsky.social

An @sussexornitholo.bsky.social event on the downs above Shoreham with a talk on changing farm practices, stewardship and sustainable farming initiatives, farm bird recoveries and a walk (with overflying Peregrine, Buzzard, Skylark and Finch flocks). Encouraging. @btobirds.bsky.social #ukbirding

1/2 Curlew – wonderfully charismatic, desperately threatened and in need of urgent action if they are to remain part of our landscape. That’s why the launch of the UK Curlew Species Action Plan yesterday in the House of Lords is so important. #Ornithology #Curlew

Lovely to see so many @hnhsoc.bsky.social members and guests at a private view for the 'Wildlife for the Record' exhibition at North Hertfordshire Museum this week. I gave a talk marking the end (almost) of the HNHS 150th anniversary year. www.hnhs.org/news/north-h...

Thanks to everyone who came along at #BES2025 to chat about my work on phenological synchrony with @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social and @piedflynet.bsky.social Even for specialist species, mismatch may only matter in years where resources are scarce 🐦🐛 If I missed you at the conference, get in touch!

If you're at the @britishecologicalsociety.org #BES2025 in Edinburgh and interested in #phenology, come and find me for a chat about how resource abundance modulates the impacts of the trophic #mismatch. My poster is A17.21 in the Cromdale Hall, and I'll be there from 6pm this evening! 🌳 -> 🐛 -> 🐦

Very pleased to announce that my recent paper in Oecologia "Trophic generalism in the winter moth: a model species for phenological mismatch" won the journal's 2024 Ehleringer Prize for student research! 🏆 You can read more about the paper and the award below 👇 link.springer.com/journal/442/...

Great to see three of our Sussex birders involved in co-authoring the LSW paper in the Dec copy of British Birds. PAM will be an important tool in the next National Bird Atlas. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social @britishbirds.bsky.social @mallalieum.bsky.social @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social

Our paper in December's @britishbirds.bsky.social describes success in using sound recording for detecting Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. We found Lesser Spots still present in woodlands where they have not been seen/heard for years. This is very exciting www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...

1/ A new study from @lesserspotnet.bsky.social & BTO in @britishbirds.bsky.social looks at how passive acoustic monitoring is an effective way of surveying Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ➡️ www.bto.org/LSWBioacoust... #bioacoustics #ornithology @simongillings.bsky.social @hosbirding.bsky.social

Wonderful morning at the Wyre forest rewarded with 20 min of a pair of lesser spotted woodpecker crisp morning perfect @lesserspotnet.bsky.social

See this encouraging update about Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in the UK. We will have the pleasure of hearing more from Ken and Linda Smith of the LesserSpot Network when they give a talk for BOC about their work, on 18th February 2026 (get it in your diary). #ukbirding

It’s out in time for Christmas. Again! #hertsbirds #ukbirding

Something to celebrate - our 2025 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker report - successful breeding season, the most nests monitored & highest number of chicks fledged per nest since we started in 2015. Acoustic monitoring giving amazing results too, download here www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W...

This is a brilliant initiative. Woodpecker Network is working with BTO to develop a passive acoustic monitoring module for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. Trials have proved successful in reliably detecting their drums and calls, revealing many new locations. We are taking this forward in spring 2026

Our WeBS count (below) was assisted by a low flying Marsh Harrier putting up a flock of Redshank, also saw 4 Jack Snipe & a Kingfisher, @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

Our BTO @webs-gsmp.bsky.social high tide count yesterday at Fishbourne Creek was unseasonably warm at 17 degrees. Good numbers though - Snipe 53 (our highest ever count), Brent Geese 400, Redshank 260, Wigeon 300, Curlew 130, Turnstone 42, Lapwing 60 Gt Crested Grebe 15, but no Godwits seen.

My book has got a great endorsement from Chris Packham: "This clever and immensely resourceful book is an overdue gem". There's also a few pages up on the website too! It's up for pre-order here with publication set for January pelagicpublishing.com/products/pan...

In the week the @eounion.bsky.social met @bangoruniversity.bsky.social, latest findings from @lesserspotnet.bsky.social provide hope for this hard-to-find bird. @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes also rounds up the week's scarcer sightings. #BirdingWales www.birdnotes.wales/blog/experts...

Some of the numerous juveniles among 44+ Hawfinches at West Dean, Sussex, this morning, feeding on beech, presumably mast. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @ukrbbp.bsky.social

Ken & Linda Smith will be at the BOU Woodland Birds Conference on 18 August 2025 at Bangor. Ken is giving a talk ‘Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers: how citizen science is contributing to our understanding of this enigmatic species’ Looking forward to seeing some of you there bou.org.uk/conferences-...

We will be representing Woodpecker Network the BOU Woodland Birds Conference on 18 August 2025 at Bangor. Ken is giving a talk ‘Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers: how citizen science is contributing to our understanding of this enigmatic species’ We are both looking forward to it bou.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Effect of habitat quality and quantity on the occurrence and persistence of the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) across two time periods | doi.org/10.1016/j.bi... | Biological Conservation | #ornithology #conservation 🪶🌎

Good to have our citizen science Bat recording project noted in The Times today. Since 2018 using our automatic bat detector at 100+ sites we have found bats everywhere in Chichester area, including rare Kuhl's Pipistrelle. See Chichester Natural History Society website www.chinats.org.uk/medmerry-3

333,769 records! Entered 950+ records today from a single 7-hour survey on a farm on the 8th June.

Can you help find Sussex's breeding Hawfinches by locating cherry trees and looking for split cherry stones? See www.sos.org.uk/archives/6421 Thank you! @sussexornitholo.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @ukrbbp.bsky.social

Well that was quick - just flushed a Green Sandpiper from the stream at the bottom of the garden. Garden tick, but autumn migration starts here!

Good news for Lesser Spots to have a brood of 4 chicks

Yes, a very good effort this year. Volunteers found and monitored 24 LSW nests, this represents about 1% of possible nests assuming an estimated Lesser Spot population of 2000+ pairs in England and Wales.

How many nests across the country is that now? Must be approaching a record!

Another day - another 3 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being monitored in Devon and the New Forest. Great work by LesserSpotNet volunteers. Healthy chicks being well fed by both parents in all the nests. More nests could be found this week.

One Lesser Spot nest has fully fledged. The other quite a way to go. Slight concerns over a small hole in the back of the nest. Noticed by both Male and Female this morning. @lesserspotnet.bsky.social @angusrobin.bsky.social #birds @stuckateur.bsky.social

1/ What the @bbs-birds.bsky.social report means for England. ⬇️ Blackbird has declined by 10% here over the last 10 years. The disease Usutu Virus may be one of the contributing factors: bit.ly/GWHUsutu @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology

LesserSpotNet special pin badges presented by @angusrobin.bsky.social to volunteers Stuart @stuckateur.bsky.social (left) & Ed @edhorncastle.bsky.social (right) who found and monitored breeding outcomes at LSW nests in Devon - many thanks both

As a special thank you, we are awarding unique Lesser Spotted Woodpecker pin badges to LesserSpotNet volunteers who found LSW nests this year or contributed in other ways. The Badges were designed & produced specially for us by @ukbirdingpins.bsky.social Thanks @angusrobin.bsky.social for organising

A remarkable West Sussex farm, intensive arable, but with breeding Turtle Doves (3+ prs), Nightingale, Cuckoo, House Martins, Swifts, lots of warblers, Goshawks in adjacent wood, and maybe Hawfinches, judging by cracked open cherry stones. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

Checked in with the lesser spot nest found by @stuckateur.bsky.social both Male and Female working hard to feed the young. @lesserspotnet.bsky.social clearing of what I think are faecal sacks a prominent part of the morning. Also lots of spotted flycatchers which grabbed the attention of the Male.

From deep within tree holes, Great Spotted Woodpecker chicks beg noisily. Both parents will deliver food to the nest, until red-capped fledglings emerge, clinging to trunks and still calling hungrily. Parents can continue to feed fledglings for around 10 days. #SpringStories

Successful trip to Kent y'day to visit 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests, our endoscope revealed 4 chicks ready to fledge, 11 m high in a dead Ash & 3 chicks snug in a dead Oak. Thanks @paulc090316.bsky.social & Jonathan for finding the nests & showing them to us - all very positive for success.

A fantastic 3 day birding in the south west looking for lesser spot nests happy to say I found nest number 17 this year!! A big thanks to @lesserspotnet.bsky.social and gus robin who came to image the nest showing possibly 3/4 young birds fantastic work these people are doing for the species 👏

@lesserspotnet.bsky.social Mum and dad together - Kent, 25th May 2025

Woodpecker Network was awarded the 2024 BTO and Marsh Award for local ornithology, we, @angusrobin.bsky.social & @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social were honoured to accept the Award on behalf of all LesserSpotNet volunteers. We used the money to buy a thermal camera to help monitor woodpecker nests

A brilliant talk by David this evening to celebrate 150 years of Hertfordshire Natural History Society, a recording will be will be available to listen again - well worth it

GREAT NEWS! Peregrines 1, Egg trampler 0. Three eggs as of this morning. #RaptorResearch #UKBirding #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/05/09/p...

Pied Fly pair have built a nest in this root hole, no eggs yet. Warm on thermal imaging. @piedflynet.bsky.social

Pleased to help observe a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest in the New Forest, too high in a dead Beech to inspect with nest camera. The pair changed over once during an hour watch so nest is still active and at egg incubating stage (which takes 11 days). All good information.